Of Costumes and Such

My younger son recently told me that he's thinking of joining the SCA. When he and his brother were younger, we used to go down to Himmel Park on Sunday afternoons, where fighter practice was being held. My boys enjoyed watching the practice and I enjoyed sitting with the crafters, working on various needlework projects. More recently, Keith tagged along with a friend to Estrella and he's now eager to join. Which means he'll need a persona and a costume. I don't yet know what he's planning, or even if he's made up his mind, outside of his intention to build armor, so he can join in the fighting, so a discussion of his costume will have to wait.

In the meantime, I don't know about you, but I loved to play dress up when I was a kid. I still do, really, although I've rarely gotten my act together sufficiently to pull off the kind of elaborate costume I love so much, which may be why I'm enamored of sites that offer ready-made costumes to those who don't have the time and energy to make fantastic garb (or who want to spend that time and energy on other things). So, I really enjoyed finding a link in ellen_kushner's post, Olde York, to Past Images, a costume shop and photography studio in York, England that offers costumes from several periods along with some very creative CG backgrounds and settings. It makes me want to pack my bags and head for York, right now.

I also really admire and appreciate people who costume. Often, the level of time, effort, skill, and care put into their work is amazing. Recently, I've been seeing a lot of steampunk, which I think is a lot of fun. There's a live journal community, steamfashion, which is devoted to steampunk costuming, and they've recently posted about a steampunk fashion show in :Wicked Faire Steampunk Fashion Show - Post 1 and Wicked Faire Steampunk Fashion Show - Post 2.

It wouldn't be fair not to mention my own husband's recreationist fashion efforts. For Halloween, he made a metal plague doctor's mask for his youngest son, which he decorated with punch work repousse. (See my post Figurative Art for links to more information about plague doctors.) We didn't manage to get a good picture then, but if I can, I'll try to get him back into his costume and get a picture to post, sometime in the near future.

More recently, Karl has been experimenting with making poulaines. After reading some articles about them online, he started by putting on a pair of cheap socks and wrapping duct tape around them to conform to his foot shape, then cutting the tape-wrapped sock off to form a sole, a heel, and a body piece. From these, he developed pattern pieces. This evening, he cut up a big piece of green felt he'd found a year or so ago at a yard sale (I think it was originally intended as a puzzle-keeper). He'll be sewing these together to form the shoes. I'm not sure what he's going to use for the soles, although for this trial run he's just using the felt to make the equivalent of a pair of slippers.

We've had a few discussions about the soles, actually. He prefers the simplicity and semi-authenticity of a single layer of the sole material, as would have been used historically. I, plagued by sensitive feet all my life and foot problems as an adult, favor something with a bit of built in cushioning and support. For the moment, our compromise (for whenever he makes a pair for me) is to have me purchase a pair of insoles, which I will put on under the pattern sock when we wrap my foot, and which I will later wear inside my shoes.

A Few Almost Completely Random Costume-Related Links

• Rivendell Bridal
• Greek Costume Through the Centuries
• faeriefashion
• Artifice Clothing.com (May not be suitable for work or young children. YMMV)
• Celtic Wedding Dress and Medieval Wedding Dress Designs
• Alienskin Clothing
• Enchanted: Fairy Wings, Wedding Gowns and Costumes
• Rossetti: Couture Designer of contemporary, corseted and coloured alternative wedding dresses inspired by period costume
• Poor People's Poulaines
• Marc Carlson's Homepage (With lots of links to costume and historical information.)
• Footwear of the Middle Ages (Just some of the information Marc Carlson has posted.)
• ADDED: The Costumer's Manifesto
• ADDED: Costume History at the Costumer's Manifesto

A Few Completely Random Steampunk Links

• NY Times Article: Steampunk Moves Between 2 Worlds
• Antipodean Steampunk Adventures
• Brass Goggles
• Steampunk Frankenstein' PC Is Awesome Enough To Excuse Being Steampunk In The First Place
• steamfashion
• Steampunk Magazine
• The Steampunk Home
• The Steampunk Librarian
• The Steampunk Workshop

UPDATED: I added a couple of links that absolutely had to be in the costume list.
UPDATE #2:Just came across the notice of a new Steampunk costume site, Clockwork Couture.